What was the earliest film made by foreigners in China?

The history of foreigners coming to China to shoot documentaries can be traced back to the first few years of the film. During the period of 1896, the Lumiere brothers sent hundreds of photographers to shoot films all over the world, and some of them came to China to shoot documentaries, but the names and contents of these films are now difficult to verify.

During the period of 1898, a photographer of American Edison Film Company shot some materials in Hong Kong and Shanghai during his global travel, which was later included in six short documentaries such as Hong Kong Pier and Shanghai Street View. Four years later, another American film company edited and released two short films, The Front Gate of Beijing and Street View of Tianjin, based on the materials shot by its photographers in Beijing and Tianjin.

From 65438 to 0908, Italian Lauro, who was engaged in film screening activities in Shanghai, also started filming activities, including The First Tram in Shanghai, Scenery of Shanghai Concession, Forced Braiding and so on. The funeral of Emperor Guangxu of the Western Empress recorded the funeral of two rulers of an ancient empire.

During the period of 1909, photographers from EMI Film Company came to Beijing to shoot scenery films, and also filmed performances of some famous Peking Opera actors (such as Yang Xiaolou and He Peiting). In the same year, American Benjamin Brodsky founded the Asian Film Company in Shanghai. At first, most films were documentaries, such as After the Western Pacific and Unfortunate Children.

1925, Soviet director Sniey Ginov and a photographer arrived in China on a Soviet plane that opened a long-distance Moscow-Beijing route, and filmed some materials in Zhangjiakou, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places, which were included in the documentary "The Great Flight and the Civil War in China", which was later renamed "Dong Fangzhiguang" and was shown in western European countries as the first news documentary released by the Soviet Union abroad. Two years later, another Soviet director, Yakov Briaud, came to China to shoot the news documentary "Shanghai Chronicle" reflecting the situation in Shanghai at the end of the first revolutionary civil war, which was released in the Soviet Union on 1928.

1927, a joint expedition led by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, including Peking University students, began an eight-year investigation in northwest China, during which a large number of films were filmed and shown in Beijing. At the end of 1920, another Swede, the archaeologist Andersen, recorded his experiences in the north and northwest of China with movies, which reflected the customs, cultural relics, archaeology, folk houses and costumes outside the Great Wall.

Recorder of the war years

1935, edgar snow, an American journalist who taught in yenching university, photographed the scene of the "December 9th" student movement with a 16mm hand-held camera, which has become a precious historical material today. During the period of 1936, some materials taken by Si Nuo during his stay in Yan 'an recorded the images of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the drills, reviews and field exercises of the Red Army infantry and cavalry, the ball games of the August 1st Games and the recreational life of the troops. These materials have also become very precious historical materials. After Si Nuo, American photographer Harry Dunheim also came to the revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi and filmed the documentary "China Will Fight Back".

1938, another Soviet documentary director, roman kalman, came to China and filmed War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's documentaries China in Battle and In China, the people of China. In the same year, Dutch documentary director joris ivens came to China after difficulties and obstacles. His film "Forty Million People" was shown in many countries, which played a positive role in supporting the people of China, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

On the contrary, the Japanese documentaries filmed in China in 1930s and 1940s were not only used as propaganda means to encourage the Japanese people and army to launch a war of aggression, but also became diplomatic means for the Japanese government to promote militarism. On August 2 1, 1937, just over a month after the July 7th Incident, the "Great Japan Film Association" established the "Manchuria Film Association" in China, and made many films promoting the "national policy" of the puppet Manchukuo. From 1937 to 1945, the association shot more than 600 films in China, half of which were series of news documentaries, such as Newsweek and Special Report on the Great East Asian War.

From 1938 to 1943, the Japanese army carried out more than 200 air raids on Chongqing, dispatched more than 9,000 fighter planes, dropped more than 20,000 bombs, and killed and injured tens of thousands of citizens ... This historical fact called "Chongqing Bombing" was recorded in a 6-hour film, which was made by photographers of the Japanese Air Force, journalists from the German Embassy in China and the former Kuomintang. This information was captured by the US military after World War II and then flowed into China after many twists and turns. On June 4th, 20001year, a 5 1 minute documentary "Chongqing Bombing" was piloted in Chongqing, which was the first documentary in China to reflect the disaster 60 years ago.

1949 At the end of September, 25 documentary filmmakers from the Soviet Union came to China. In eight months' time, two photography teams shot a lot of materials, which were sorted into two large-scale documentaries, Victory of China People and Liberation of China. These two films were shot in July of 1950, which produced a wide range of international influence after being released, and both won the first prize of Stalin Prize. These two films may be the earliest color documentaries made by foreigners in China.

From 65438 to 0955, French documentary director Chris Margai came to China to film "Sunday in Beijing", and female directors Agnès Varda, who enjoys the reputation of "the mother of the new wave" in France, came together as an art consultant. 1958, Evans, who had settled in Paris, came to China again and filmed the documentary "Early Spring" reflecting the rural scene in the south of the Yangtze River.

197 1 year, Evans and Luo Lidan spent five years shooting a large-scale documentary series "A Mountain of Yugong" consisting of 12 films. At the beginning of March, 1976, these films were simultaneously shown in four art theaters in Paris. Perhaps because it meets the needs of China, which westerners have long known, the film was released in France for only six months, and then it was released in West Germany, Belgium, Brazil and other countries, and was widely praised. In the middle and late 1980s, they shot another documentary "The Story of the Wind" in China at the same time, which became a masterpiece in documentary history. From 1938 to 1988, Evans filmed documentaries in China for half a century.

1972, Italian director antonioni filmed the documentary China. This film made antonioni and his films suffer national criticism in China. As a Canadian documentary researcher pointed out, the relationship between these films and the subjects is cold, and they have never successfully had intimate communication with them. They are just tourists' impressions of China, just like travel diaries. But this film truly records a happy China, which is completely different from the "unprecedented" China that people now imagine.